Farmers Approve of Removing Macaques from Protected Animals|多數農民顧及收入 贊成獼猴由保育類降級

Why is this important? In actual fact, the conflicts between the Formosan rock macaques and local farmers have been ongoing for years, as they cause much crop damage . Some farmers from Kaohsiung City chooses to respect the macaques' space despite suffering damage. Most other farmers, however, are in favor of demoting the macaques from the protected species.


A Formosan rock macaque has trespassed into an orchard and picked off some fruits off the trees. The macaque remains in the orchard despite the guardian dog tries to scare it off. The farmer is quite understanding of the situation and has not resorted to applying pesticides or setting up electric fences to fend off the macaques. The Formosan rock macaque was recently removed from the list of protected species. The farmer apparently has a different view on this latest development.

Whether they are listed as a protected species or not, I feel that there shouldn't be any classification in terms of their right to survive. Even if they are just average animals (not protected), we should still give them room to breathe.

The Formosan rock macaques should not longer be protected. Otherwise, the farmers wouldn't be able to harvest their crops (due to all the damage).

The fruit farmers from Yunlin County have suffered significant damage due to the macaques frequently picking the fruits. The farmers and local government are all in favor of removing the macaques from the list of protected species. They also believe follow-up strategies are needed in dealing with the macaques.

Even after the macaques are no longer listed as a protected species, they could still be protected under the Animal Protection Act. Then eventually, nothing really changed. We would like to invite animal control professionals to capture these macaques and apply birth control methods.

Lin Mei-chin, who has been promoting healthy interaction between humans and macaques, believes that demoting the macaques from being a protected species does not fundamentally solve the issue.

Most people are dealing with the macaques as if they are hazards (to the crops). They never really asked the question as to what added values macaques bring, if it brings any benefits to the local residents? They haven't even evaluated these they simply decided to limit their numbers. I don't think that's the right way to deal with the issue.

Lin says that the current number of macaques is based on estimation, and that there needs to be an exact number. She also says that Taiwan should learn from other countries and try to integrate the macaques as part of the tourism promotion effort to really turn around the issue and create value.